


Love, Selfish Love

by skyfireflies



Category: Karneval
Genre: Alternate Universe, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-27
Updated: 2013-05-26
Packaged: 2017-12-13 02:33:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/818945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyfireflies/pseuds/skyfireflies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gareki is perfectly content with spending the rest of his life exactly how he spends every day: he wakes up, goes to work at the garage, comes home and eats cheap frozen food while he spends half the night tinkering with the innards of the computers strewn about his apartment. That was before the man with the bright yellow monstrosity that Gareki refuses to call a car showed up in his life, however. Now, Gareki isn't quite sure what he wants anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love, Selfish Love

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the lovely Brendii, because she wanted domestic fluff and suddenly... this happened. ^_^ It was only going to be a drabble, but suddenly it grew into this huge fic and I couldn't stop it LOL. 
> 
> Will be... somewhere in the vicinity of 15-16,000 words once I finish editing;;;

The first time Gareki meets Yogi, it is entirely by chance. 

Gareki has spent the afternoon poking around in the underside of someone’s violently yellow convertible; he is sweaty, dirty, and greasy, and what he would like most in the world is a nice, long shower to make him feel somewhat human again. Instead, he finishes up just as the owner of the too-bright monstrosity arrives to take it far, far away from him. Gareki knows the man standing in the shop’s tiny little office is the owner, because he’s just as offensively bright as his car.

The man offers him a sickeningly cheerful smile, and doesn’t even flinch when Gareki levels him with his most irritated glare. Gareki wonders if the guy is stupid, and then wonders why he is wasting time wondering. He stomps over to the sink to wash all the oil and dirt from his hands, then turns to the man again. “Your radiator blew out,” Gareki tells him, simply, “I put in a new one.”

The man blinks a couple of times, looking puzzled, and then gives Gareki a nod. “Ah, thanks!” He says, and Gareki notes that his voice is just as cheerful as everything else about him. He also notes that, behind those thin, wire-rimmed glasses, the man has very nice eyes. 

This bothers Gareki far more than it should. 

Putting those thoughts out of his mind, he digs the keys to the man’s car out of the drawer and tosses them down on the desk, then holds out the bill receipt. The man pays for it, gives him another bright smile and a thank you, and that’s that. 

Gareki watches him go, sighs out heavily, and figures that’s the end of that.

 

 

Fast-forward two months, and Gareki is just about to close up shop for the day when a car pulls into the lot. Yotaka is in the office, yammering away on the phone to someone like usual, and Gareki figures he’ll be awhile. He figures it couldn’t hurt to see what the customer wants, even though what he’d really like to be doing right now is going home and messing with the new parts that came in for his computer. 

The second he steps out into the garage and sees the offensive yellow color of the car, though, he immediately regrets everything. There’s nothing to be done about it now, however, and when the man steps out of the car and gives him a sheepish grin and a wave, Gareki can only sigh and resign himself to his fate. “What is it this time.” he says, bluntly, trying not to let the yellow of the car burn itself into his retinas forever. 

“Ah... I’m not sure! I was driving home from work and it seemed like it was riding a little strange, so... I thought I’d bring it by and get everything checked out just in case.” Gareki remembers, suddenly, that the man’s name is Yogi; he’d been the one to file the paperwork the last time the other had come in, and Gareki has a near-perfect memory. 

Gareki sighs. “We’re supposed to be closing up,” he says, “but I guess I can take a look at it really quick. You’re not gonna have it fixed today, though.” he points out, and Yogi just looks relieved and nods, grateful. He pops the hood, and Gareki does the usual maintenance checks; there’s nothing wrong under there, from what he can tell. He straightens up, runs a hand through his hair, and gives Yogi his best irritated expression. “Let’s take it for a drive around the block,” he explains, “I might be able to tell you what’s wrong with it if I drive it.” 

Yogi lights up at that, and tosses him the keys. “I really appreciate it! I’d like to catch it before something goes really wrong with it, I can’t afford a new car on a teacher’s salary.” he says, sliding into the passenger seat. Gareki hops in behind the wheel and promptly grimaces as he checks the mirrors. There’s a new addition to the garishness of the car this time; a stuffed yellow cat sits on the dashboard, and Gareki wonders if it’s Yogi’s or if it belongs to someone else. 

Gareki starts the car up and listens closely, just in case he can hear something wrong with it. There’s nothing, so he sighs and backs the car out of the garage and out onto the street. Beside him, Yogi is surprisingly quiet. “So,” Gareki says, because it’s a little awkward to be driving someone else’s car and have complete silence, “you said you’re a teacher, huh.” 

Gareki likes kids. You wouldn’t know it by looking at him, but he’s got a soft spot for loud, obnoxious children. He never tells anyone this out loud, but his brother teases him about it constantly.

“Ah?” Yogi seems genuinely startled that Gareki’s starting a conversation with him, and Gareki can’t really blame him. “Yeah, I... teach kindergarten at the grade school not far from here.” he says, and Gareki finds himself nodding along, much to his chagrin. He takes the car around the block, and by the time they’re nearing the shop again he’s nearly positive that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Yogi’s car aside from the disgusting brightness of it.

He pulls the car up outside the garage again, turns it off, and hands the keys back over to Yogi, looking him over. “Are you sure you weren’t just hearing things? It’s running just fine.” he says, and Yogi gives him a laugh tinged with nervousness. 

“Can I be honest with you?” Yogi asks, and Gareki doesn’t even bother giving that an answer. He doesn’t particularly have any use for liars, so he figures an answer isn’t necessary. “There’s nothing wrong with the car. It’s been running great since you fixed it the last time.” 

Gareki just stares at him, waiting for an explanation. “It’s just...I thought you were cute. Last time, I mean. When I came to pick up the car. I wanted to see you again. That’s all.” There’s the faintest hint of a blush on Yogi’s rather pale cheeks, and Gareki finds himself thinking that it suits him well. 

“...’Cute’,” Gareki reiterates, just to be sure he’s hearing things correctly, “You thought I was... cute.” Gareki has been called many things in his life, but he has to admit that ‘cute’ usually isn’t among them. ‘Cute’ is usually reserved for other, less angry and irritable, people.

“That’s right, haha. Does it bother you? I just... I thought...” Yogi wrings his hands a little, nervously; Gareki wonders if this is his brother’s idea of playing a trick on him. People don’t approach him like this. Even if they think he’s easy on the eyes, Gareki has never been the type that attracts a lot of people. And Hirato has a strange sense of humor, especially when it comes to his little brother. “Well, I thought I might ask you if you wanted to get dinner or something, sometime.” 

The way Yogi is smiling at him, all nervous and a little flushed and with an awkward but cheerful laugh, Gareki figures that maybe he actually does mean it. Which is interesting, because that’s never really happened before. Gareki has spent his life up until now entirely satisfied with eternally being a bachelor. He has a job he enjoys, a decent apartment, and he rather likes spending his time alone, tinkering with computers and cars and his motorcycle.

Sometimes there is a loneliness, but Gareki will never admit that out loud. Besides, it isn’t like he doesn’t have a few friends; Yotaka and his twin sister are as close to him as his real family. 

“A date,” Gareki says, slowly, “You went through this whole elaborate ruse to ask me out on a date.” The idea of it is more than a little absurd, but everything about Yogi seems to throw Gareki off in some way or another. 

“It’s alright if you say no! I guess I could have just asked you outright, but I wasn’t sure how, since... we don’t really know each other and you probably think I’m really weird, huh?” Yogi laughs, and Gareki watches as he takes his glasses off and wipes them absently on his shirt before returning them to their proper resting place again. 

Gareki is so entirely out of his element, all he can do for the longest time is stare. Eventually, he unbuckles the seatbelt and gets out of the car without a word. He feels Yogi’s eyes on him the whole time, and Gareki wonders if he can claim temporary insanity later when all of this inevitably goes horribly wrong, but still he finds himself going to grab a pen and paper off his work table. 

He jots down his name and phone number quickly, hesitates for just a moment, then stomps back over to the yellow monstrosity and slides the sheet of paper up under one of the windshield wipers. Gareki does not bother with a goodbye, or any other words at all; he simply leaves it, then turns and stomps back inside, changing the sign on the door to read ‘CLOSED’ as he does so.

Less than a minute later, and Yotaka is asking Gareki where he’d disappeared to when they were supposed to be closing up. Gareki has nearly forgotten his phone is in his pocket; he so rarely gets calls or messages that it startles him when it goes off. It startles Yotaka, too; he watches with wide, interested eyes as Gareki yanks his phone out of his pocket and checks his text messages. 

_Friday. I’ll pick you up at 8, if that’s okay. ^_^ But you’ll have to give me your address!_

Gareki keeps his face carefully expressionless, fingers typing out his address before he can stop himself. There’s no way this can end any way but badly, but he feels compelled to go for it despite himself. Maybe it’s the fact that Yogi has nice eyes, or a nice smile; maybe it’s just that Gareki is lonely and it would be nice, for once, to have someone all to himself. 

Either way, he figures it might be worth his time to try, at least.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments/kudos much appreciated, as always~!


End file.
